September, 2008

Offbeat News — No Comments
30
Sep 08

China space mission story hits Web before actual launch — Dialog Faked

China space mission story hits Web before launch | World | Chron.com – Houston Chronicle — So who wins with this story? The folks who promote the idea that we never landed on the moon.

A news story describing a successful launch of China’s long-awaited space mission and including detailed dialogue between astronauts launched on the Internet today, hours before the rocket had even left the ground.

The country’s official news agency Xinhua posted the article on its Web site today, and remained there for much of the day before it was taken down.

A staffer from the Xinhuanet.com Web site who answered the phone said the posting of the article was a “technical error” by a technician. The staffer refused to give his name as is common among Chinese officials.

Gaming — No Comments
29
Sep 08

EA to face class action lawsuit over Spore DRM

EA is to face a class action lawsuit apparently, after plaintiffs have emerged who allege that the SecuROM copy protection used in Spore breaches consumer law.

The copy protection system used in Spore is one of many games lately using the SecuROM DRM system, with others including EA’s Mass Effect, Crysis Warhead and Take Two’s BioShock on the PC. EA has also confirmed that it will be using the system in Red Alert 3.

Though Spore only allowed itself to be installed on three PCs and to be linked to a single account, EA has since pledged to loosen the restrictions. This hasn’t proved to be enough to placate some gamers however who object to the extra software being present on the disc, or who have had issues with DRM solution.

Now though, according to Gamespot, plaintiffs are alleging that the DRM system used in Spore puts the game in breach of consumer law. The complaint, which has been filed at the class-action level, seeks damaged for trespass, interference and unfair competition.

The case also seeks disgorgement of unjust profits and claims that SecuROM is “secretly installed to the command and control center of the computer (Ring 0, or the Kernel), and surreptitiously operated, overseeing function and operation on the computer, preventing the computer from operating under certain circumstances and/or disrupting hardware operations.”

Electronic Arts has responded only that “We do not comment on matters of pending litigation.”

Featured / Gaming — 1 Comment
26
Sep 08

Crysis Wars Review

Crysis Wars Review
Platform: PC
-Comes with Crysis Warhead

Multiplayer is another area that has been re-vamped in Crysis Warhead, though not dramatically as some might want you to think actually. There’s been a lot of fuss made over the new Crysis Wars game, which has been billed as pretty much a game in its own right.

Which isn’t exactly true as the only real addition to the multiplayer experience over that of Crysis is that there’s now team deathmatch mode.

It’s weird, really. Crytek and Electronic Arts have always tried to make an understandably big deal out of the multiplayer side of Crysis, but it’s always been something where the reality had definitely failed to live up to the hype of it all. They call it Crysis Wars, but the reality is that it’s just the standard set of multiplayer game modes.

Continue reading →

Technology — No Comments
26
Sep 08

Imation brings first 6x Blu-ray recordable discs to US

Wouldn’t it be nice that someday America would one day be able to buy 6x BD-Rs for these 6x Blu-ray burners without relying on a Japanese importer, and today, that dream has been realized. Imation is bringing TDK Life on Record media to US soil, marking the first time 6x Blu-ray recordable (BD-R) and Blu-ray recordable double layer (BD-R DL) media has been available here. Unfortunately, this stuff is still absurdly expensive – expect to hand over $13.99 for a single BD-R in October, while a BD-R DL 1-pack will ring up at a staggering $32.99.

Offbeat News — No Comments
25
Sep 08

PSA: Due to budget cuts, the cops will stop responding to crimes if the victim is at fault….

PALM BAY, Fla. — A budget crunch in Palm Bay could mean city residents who forget to secure car doors or close garages will get only a case number and nothing in terms of a visit by patrol officers if something is stolen. The possible policy revision is part of a wider cost-cutting look at the Palm Bay Police Department’s $20 million annual budget, Local 6 News partner Florida Today reported.

“We’re looking very seriously at the types of calls we would go to,” Palm Bay Police Chief Bill Berger said. “Still, about 85 to 90 percent of the people who’ve had their cars broken into left the car doors open. But, obviously, if it’s an actual break-in, we’ll respond.”

The potential move is seen as an unusual step.

Other surrounding agencies — such as Melbourne Police Department — continue to respond to similar vehicle break-in calls. Berger, however, pointed out that his agency has been hit hard by higher fuel costs and a cut in revenue. Earlier this year, Berger implemented a number of cost-saving efforts, including a no-idling policy for patrol cars.

Technology — No Comments
24
Sep 08

HP announces the TouchSmart IQ800 series

The second-gen TouchSmart IQ500s just arrived in July, but HP isn’t sitting still – say hello to the new TouchSmart IQ800 series. Both the new TouchSmart IQ804 and IQ816 feature a 25.5-inch 1920 x 1200 touchscreen with various TouchSmart-specific apps, a TV tuner with remote, integrated webcam, Bluetooth, HP Pocket Media drive bay, and an ambient light to illuminate your keyboard, but the IQ804 confusingly has a higher-clocked 2.16GHz T5850 Core 2 Duo on a 667MHz bus with 2MB of cache while the IQ816 has a 2.10GHz T8100 Core 2 Duo on a 800MHz bus with a 3MB cache – we’d bet the IQ816 benchmarks faster, regardless of the slightly slower chip. On top of that, the IQ816 also bundles in a Blu-ray drive / dual-layer burner and upgrades the IQ804’s GeForce 9300M GS graphics to a GeForce 9600M GS chip. Expect to see the IQ804 on September 21 for $1,899, while you’ll have to fork over $2,099 for the IQ816 when it hits on October 12.

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